"Shadows and Light: Perfect Moment" Pastel on Wallis with gouache underpainting, 9x12 inches.

The festival wrap up was yesterday so I'll post a summary to cover the week, photos here and there, therefore it'll be a longish one.

The painting above was highly energized, lots of interest while I painted it. It was done at the site I chose for my demo site. It's a real nice gallery in Sister Creek called Fine Line Designs and represents several of the artists invited for this competition. It could have sold five or six times this week – from the moment the preview opened at 5 pm on Friday until Sunday.

A very fun woman bought the piece at the preview auction and I'd had a lot of fun talking to her all week long, one of the palette sponsors who are an art committed group who purchased access to a number of extra events where we invited artists could talk and socialize with them.

Beginning on Sunday with stamping and ending the next Sunday at 2:30, the painting was full on, the events were full on and the people were full on...I didn't have time to see the other work until I walked the final two on Sunday!

Sales were good, I painted 16 or 17 paintings, even though working with an equipment handicap from Tuesday on. (Best laid plans.)

Kudos to the volunteers, staff, director and board members of the Peninsula School of Art, this event was incredibly complex, intense and entirely well organized. When the Tuesday disaster struck my equipment and I was without a working easel the school stood behind me and ordered a replacement along with helping me get back on my feet to paint. A really incredible group of people dedicated to art.




"Solitude" 12x16, pastel and gouache on Wallis. This painting was done the first evening and remains one of my favs though you're seeing it here as the photo on site which has shadows of grass across it. There are many incredible painting locations here which I didn't get to yet and will likely return to paint sometime late in the year – both winter and fall are said to be stunning.

This really was incredible and it really was intense – so much beauty and work.

I'll be staying with another host tonight and return home tomorrow. After that more info and photos from the event when I settle back in at home.

Socks for my easel

The trick legs on my trick easel began having trouble after two years of working it hard. The manufacturer suggested that I pull off the feet and wash water up the legs to remove dirt. Did this twice but one leg still didn't hold it's position and was difficult to retract. 

We took the worst leg apart, wiped it down, removed the worst offender – the screw used as a stop for the rubber foot – and it worked again. That aperture at the bottom of the leg is necessary, but what a hazard! The screw must have been just loose enough and the leg tilted just right. the screw had to roll just so and the easel carried in such a way for it to get in, stay in and work its way up to where it lodged. 

I made some socks to protect the legs openings from dirt. Painting outdoors there will always be dirt. Problem solved.

Painting for others

Amazing to do, this painting for a target event or for other external objectives. My work will be featured at a fundraiser for a destination garden. This involves all manner of contract, aesthetic and painting issues. Good for learning, but I think the painting is suffering.

Looking forward to travel, next stop Sleeping Bear National Park

Three days staying with friends and painting, then four or five days working with my painting buddy in Sleeping Bear National Park ... after the holiday. 

There's a swamp on my radar which will be a first choice. And, there are always the classics: beach and beach goers, shoreline, cedars, drive in theater and a few nocturnes. It all should keep me busy and get the painting back on track.

Other problems solved:

SPF clothing, rated 150 SPF and comfortable, hoping it also resists biting bugs – ticks are a bane but so is sunburn! And, painting for the Door Plein Air Festival will be in late July so the systems are being tested during the next three trips.